The present invention relates to managing and manipulating computer archive files, and more particularly to a system and method for managing and manipulating zip files through a computer program integrated into Microsoft Windows Explorer.
Compression of computer files has been around for years. Compressing files can save tremendous amounts of disk space, and transfer time when downloading files from the Internet or transferring files through email. These days, almost any file one downloads from the Internet is compressed in some way. A standard compressed file or folder as it is sometimes called contains one or more files that were compressed into a single file or folder. A lot of different compression formats have been developed over the years. The zip format, created by the assignee of the present invention, is the most common compressed file format for the personal computer, but there are many others in use today. Any file with a “.zip” extension is most likely a compressed file in the zip format. Zipping a file means compressing the file into the zip format archive so that it occupies less disk space, and unzipping a file means uncompressing a compressed file in the zip format. A zip file is a file which has been compressed with PKZIP®, from PKWare, Inc., or another compatible archiver. Zip files are indicated by a “.zip” filename extension.
A computer file is compressed through the use of one or more compression algorithms. A compression algorithm is essentially a mathematical formula that scans the data in the file for compressible information. For example, compressible information may be any repeating pattern or string that can be represented once. The compression algorithm will then represent the repeated patterns in a coded manner to save space. For standard compression, most of the compression algorithms work basically the same way. Some are just more efficient or faster than others.
Generally, the contents of a compressed file cannot be accessed unless the archive is uncompressed. In order to uncompress a file, a user needs to either use the same program used to compress the file, or use another program that is compatible with the particular compression format. That meant that users were required to use standalone programs to compress and uncompress their files. The same problem occurs when trying to work with and manipulate compressed archived files. For example, a user wanting to open an existing compressed file, modify the file, or extract data from the file and transfer it to another file would have to command a standalone program to uncompress the original file and command the standalone program to compress the modified file. This process is often burdensome and inconvenient to the user. Therefore, it would be beneficial to create a product that would eliminate the need for separate standalone compression programs, and eliminate the need to separately command a file to be uncompressed or compressed each time the file is opened, modified, or saved.
Such products have been developed by many companies, including products used in a Microsoft Windows Explorer environment. Microsoft Windows Explorer is a browser program in Windows for exploring directories, files, and folders in a computer system. In connection with Windows Explorer, Microsoft provides a shell name space extension application program interface (API) for software developers to use to integrate other software utility programs into Windows Explorer. Several companies have developed compression file manipulation programs using the Microsoft Windows Explorer interface. Some of these products include: ArjFolder by Raphael Mounier; Cab Viewer by Microsoft Corporation; CleverZip by Cleverness, Inc.; Zip Explorer Pro by Aeco Systems; Internet Neighborhood by KnoWare, Inc.; Net Explore; ZipMagic by Mijenix Corporation; and Netzip Classic by Netzip Inc. The Internet Neighborhood and Net Explore products are file transfer protocol (FTP) products which integrate FTP sites into Windows Explorer. ZipMagic and Netzip Classic are device driver products.
ZipMagic, patented under U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,703, is directed to a device driver for accessing computer files. The ZipMagic patent utilizes a device driver implemented in the operating system of Windows Explorer that makes all zip files appear to be folders.
However, all of the above products are implemented differently from the present invention, and do not include many of the features of the present invention. Many of the above programs have increased performance overhead in processing (compressing/uncompressing) files continuously in and out, and it is often difficult for a user to determine if he is in a zip file or rather in a folder.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for easy management and manipulation of archive files. The program of the present invention is intended for use on Microsoft Windows 9x, Me (Millennium Edition), NT 4.0, and 2000 systems. Windows 95 and NT 4.0 systems require Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater.